


The Sweet Escape

by bluesfortheredj



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018) Actor RPF
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gwilym Lee - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:55:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22899115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesfortheredj/pseuds/bluesfortheredj
Relationships: Gwilym Lee/Reader
Comments: 10
Kudos: 114





	1. Sat 17th June

Alone forever. Maybe when you get back home you should look up cats that need adopting near you, then at least you’d have some company when you got home from work. How terribly negative your thoughts had become on your journey over to the island. You couldn’t help it though, you should have had a passenger next to you, you should have had twice the amount of luggage in your boot, you should have had someone to talk to while you drove, and you should have had company on the ferry over as well. But then again _he_ should have kept it in his pants and not cheated on you which ultimately ended your four year relationship.

Whatever, you were here now at your home away from home and even though you knew there’d be plenty of sympathetic looks after calling ahead to let them know of the changes, you were excited to see your second family. You and your family had been coming to this guest house on the island for around twenty years now, and you were firm friends with the family who owned it, so you felt completely comfortable coming here on your own. You park up on the driver and breathe in the fresh sea air before unloading your suitcase and holdall, then making your way inside to see those much needed friendly faces.

“(Y/N)!” Anna grins as you enter through the open door.

“Anna! So good to see you,” you smile as she envelops you in a hug.

“We’re so sorry to hear about…” she trails off as she averts her eyes from yours, then clears her throat before continuing, “anyway, we’re delighted that you still wanted to celebrate your birthday with us.”

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” you reply, “except with mum and dad of course… but they understood why I needed to get away!”

“Well we will take very good care of you as always, and-”

“(Y/N)! Hello you!” Michael calls out from the doorway to the kitchen.

“Hello Michael,” you grin as he walks towards you for a hug.

Anna and Michael were like another aunt and uncle to you, and Danielle, Michael’s sister, was very motherly towards you. It was a lovely place to be, not only for the people but for the location too; the guest house was situated a few metres from a cliff edge, and the garden led out to a path that ran along the top of the cliff so you could look down at the beach below.

“Danielle’s just finished with your room, so just pop next door and she should still be there,” Michael explains, “it’s really great to see you again.”

“And you two as well,” you nod, “see you later for dinner.”

You head next door to the small annexe that had three rooms inside it along with a large sitting room at the front, then head to number 2 which is where you were staying, and as you pass number 1 you spot Danielle hoovering the room. She looks up immediately and stops the hoover to rush over to you with her arms outstretched, then squeezes you tightly when she grabs a hold of you.

“Oh, (Y/N), I’m so happy to see you!”

“And I’m happy to see you too!” you chuckle as she finally lets you go.

“You’ve lost weight,” she frowns, holding you at arms length, “Michael’s dinners will soon sort that out!”

“Ha! I’m sure they will,” you smile.

“I’m sorry to hear about what happened with Russell. That man is an absolute swine, he-”

She’s cut off by a man walking in to the annexe with a suitcase and as you both turn to look at him, he shoots you both a very apologetic expression.

“I’m so sorry, I was told to come to room 1…” he trails off awkwardly.

“I’m just finishing it off,” Danielle smiles, “but (Y/N) here will show you the lounge.”

“I will?”

“You will,” she winks, “leave your bags there and help…”

“Gwilym,” the man smiles.

“Gwilym into the lounge,” Danielle finishes, giving you a little push in his direction.

You oblige and walk towards the man as you dip your head down and let out a short laugh; you know Danielle was only doing this to get your mind off Russell, and to be honest you were glad it was a young man rather than the usual elderly clientele that came here. Anything to do with another man was obviously the last thing on your mind right now, but if you were going to be staying next door to one another then you may as well be friendly. You take one of his holdalls and nod towards the lounge door before opening it up and holding it for him to wheel his suitcase through.

“Do you work here?” he asks as you drop his bag next to the rest of his luggage.

“Aha, no I don’t,” you chuckle, “I just arrived this morning as well actually. I’ve known the family since I was a kid, so I know my way around the place.”

“I’m so sorry!” he apologises, “I didn’t realise.”

“It’s okay! Danielle likes to put me to work sometimes,” you laugh, “anyway, this is the lounge, your room is next door, and… Well, Anna would have told you the rest.”

“She did, thank you. And you’re staying in room…?”

“2. We’ll be neighbours,” you smile.

“Brilliant. Maybe you can show me around the island one day. If you’re not busy of course.”

“Got a pretty packed schedule actually, but there’s plenty of leaflets next door that can guide you. It’s a small island anyway, so I’m sure it won’t take you long to get your bearings. I’d better go unpack, see you around.”

“Bye (Y/N),” he says as you almost run out of the door.

You drag your luggage into your room and sit down on the double bed with a huff. This was _your_ week, you weren’t going to be some unpaid tour guide for a handsome stranger. Handsome? Where did that word come from? No, this was not what you needed. Ignore him and he’ll get the hint, it’ll be fine. With a deep sigh you set about unpacking your belongings and filling the wardrobe with your clothes, and you can’t help but think about what it would be like if Russell were here filling the other half with his clothes and taking a drawer for his underwear. A romantic birthday week away had changed into a ‘table for one’ week away very quickly.

Once everything is in it’s place and you’ve freshened up after your long journey you exit the room and head down to the car to take a drive to your favourite viewpoint that overlooked the vast expanse of fields on the island. As you exit the annexe you can hear Gwilym’s voice next door chatting to Anna and you quickly run down the other side of the guest house and go the long way around to the car to avoid him, but when you unlock it and place your hand on the door handle you spot him coming down the path towards you. He calls out your name with a raise of his hand but you quickly get in the car, start the engine and speed off before he can reach you; it may have come across a bit rude but you could always say you didn’t hear him if it comes up in conversation later on. Anyway, this was your birthday week and you could do exactly what you wanted. Although to be honest, all you wanted was to cuddle up with someone at night and kiss you awake on your birthday morning like they should have been doing.

“Right, where am I sitting?” you ask when you enter the dining room later that evening for dinner.

“Over here, and that nice Gwilym is on the table next to you,” Danielle smiles.

“Does he have to be? Can he not go over to the other side of the room?” you question as you take a seat.

“Now listen, I know it still early days, and you were with Russell for a long time, but would it hurt to have a little fun? An innocent little flirt? Someone to put a smile on that otherwise slightly sour face? After all, it is your birthday on Tuesday, so why not start the year as you mean to go on? Letting your hair down and having some much needed fun?” Danielle reasons, and you know deep down that she’s right, but it won’t stop you from pushing him away now that your barriers were at an all time high.

“Hmm,” you hum as he enters the room and you pour yourself some water.

“Ah! Seems we’re neighbours for breakfast and dinner as well,” he remarks to you as he sits down at his table to face you.

“Indeed,” you say, briefly glancing over at him with a forced smile.

“What have you been up to today then?” he asks, trying to get you into a conversation.

You really didn’t want to talk right now to be perfectly honest, and you let out a quiet sigh before looking up at him and smiling.

“Any other time I would be very grateful for a distracting conversation, but when it comes to food I’m one hundred percent in the zone you know?” you say, hoping that it didn’t come across as a huge ‘fuck off’.

“Of course, of course. Sorry,” he smiles as he shakes his head, “I won’t disturb you any further.”

You return his smile then look down awkwardly at the place mat in front of you while you wait for the starter to arrive. You felt a little bad for brushing him off so quickly, but you just wanted a peaceful week to yourself after everything that had happened and not even the handsome stranger could change that.


	2. Sun 18th June

Your alarm goes off at an earlier hour than usual thanks to the set time for breakfast, but instead of the usual dread you felt every morning upon waking you actually felt calm, and as you stretch your arms up and legs out to the sides everything seems a little better because you’re so far away from the reality of everything. You can see how bright the day is already by the slithers of sun that creep in through the gap in the curtains and you can’t help but smile with relief at where you are right now; already feeling awake and alert for the unknown day ahead.

“Ahh,” you sigh out loud as you wriggle around in the warm duvet.

You reluctantly swing your legs out into the cooler air of the room to sit up just as your phone pings with a message notification and you reach over to the bedside table to retrieve the device and check who’s trying to contact you at this ridiculous hour on a Sunday.

- _Hope you arrived safely. Russ x_

Judging by the use of his name at the end of the text which he never used to do, he must have known you’d delete his number as soon as humanly possible. A flurry of sarcastic replies run through your mind like _hope you’ve stopped being an arsehole_ and _hope you managed to get your dick back in your pants_ but you know it’s best to just delete the message and leave it alone, even if taking the higher ground right now wasn’t as satisfying as having a dig at him. It seemed as if someone else was having an early morning wake up call by the sounds of Gwilym’s phone ringing repeatedly next door. You get up and walk over to the wall slowly, as if he’s going to know you’re listening in on him, then jump a little when you hear a thud that’s shortly followed by a grunt, and you can only imagine that he’s either dropped or thrown his phone.

“Oh dear,” you whisper to yourself as it begins to ring again and the bathroom door slams shut.

You back away from the wall and jump in the shower before getting dressed and heading down to breakfast five minutes early to see if there was any last minute things that Danielle needed doing, but when you get there you’re greeted by the sight of her and Gwilym huddled by the food hatch that connected the kitchen and the dining room as they talk to Anna through the small opening. They quickly stop when Anna nods your way and she shouts a quick ‘morning!’ before disappearing back into the kitchen as Gwilym heads towards you while you pull your chair out to take a seat.

“Good morning,” he smiles as he sits down at his own table.

“Morning,” you smile quickly before fiddling with the cutlery on your table unnecessarily.

People start to enter the dining room; two elderly couples and a family of six who are sat at a long table the opposite side of the room, and as everyone settles in to start eating you wait silently and patiently for your cooked breakfast to be served.

“Morning (Y/N),” Danielle sings as she places the hot plate of food down in front of you.

“Morning,” you reply with a sideways glance her way.

“And morning Gwilym,” she says as she then hands him his plate, “I don’t know why you two don’t just share a table. Would be much easier for my old legs.”

“It wouldn’t work unfortunately,” Gwilym replies, “when it comes to food she has to be one hundred percent in the zone. No distractions, and certainly no small talk.”

“That’s right!” you agree.

Danielle tuts and rolls her eyes which makes Gwilym laugh at her reaction, then she leaves to serve everyone else as you both get on with your breakfasts in a very welcome silence with only the background noise of the radio and quiet chattering of the other people going on around you. You can see him out of the corner of your eye as he looks over at you every now and again, and you have to fight yourself to not give in to your urges to look at him too.

“So now you’ve finished your breakfast…” he says as you place your knife and fork together on the now empty plate, “what are your plans for the day?”

“It’s a busy one today, got to fit a lot in actually,” you reply as you look at your watch to emphasise you needed to leave, “so I’d better head off now. Have a lovely day!”

You quickly down the rest of your orange juice then push your chair out and race next door to pick up your bag, get your jacket, and escape. Gwilym’s quick to follow though, and he’s hanging around by his door when you emerge from your room to leave.

“What are you doing after dinner this evening?” he asks as you go to rush past him.

“I’m… Erm…” there really wasn’t much you could say apart from the truth which was going back to your room and watching telly until you fell asleep, “having a well deserved night watching the telly.”

“Sure I couldn’t tempt you with a walk along the cliff path?” he asks hopefully, and you almost grimace at how guilty you feel for having to turn him down again.

“Not tonight I’m afraid, I’m no fun to be around when I’m tired,” you smile apologetically, “I’ll see you at dinner.”

“Where you’ll regale me of tales of your day?” he winks, not at all fazed by you brushing him off once more.

“After I’ve eaten of course.”

“Oh, absolutely,” he grins.

You consider extending the conversation and your mouth opens in preparation to speak, but you stop yourself before you make a sound and instead smile, nod, and walk out of there so as not to get too involved. As you’re walking away you hear his phone ringing once more from inside his room, and he lets out a loud and exasperated sigh as he walks inside to possibly answer it finally. When you reach your car you sit in the driver’s seat for a couple of minutes as you think about whether you’re being too offish with Gwilym, but then again you didn’t ask for anyone to start talking to you and this was _your_ week to be completely selfish and focus on number one.

After taking a deep sigh you head away from the guest house and over to the other side of the island where you had a horse riding slot booked for the morning; the route taking you across the beach and into the countryside. It was something you’d been wanting to do for years but never got around to acting upon until everything kicked off. There’s nothing quite like finding out your boyfriend’s cheating on you to spur you into doing something you’ve never done before.

The day goes far too quickly for your liking after you’ve had your celebratory cream tea after the ride, and you’re soon heading back to the guest house to make sure you’re not late for dinner. There’s no sign of Gwilym when you arrive, his car’s not on the drive and all is quiet in his room as far as you can hear when you’re safely back in yours, and you almost find yourself missing the noise of someone near you so you didn’t feel so alone. That was one huge thing you’d noticed since the break up, the deep feeling of being completely alone, and it was something that you didn’t want to think about too much which is why you’d booked to do so many activities this week, to show that being on your own wasn’t so bad after all. It was nice to hear people walking about at night upstairs and listening to the distant chatter, as it gave you something to fall asleep to instead of unending silence.

“I _know_. This isn’t a decision I’ve taken to lightly...”

Gwilym’s voice is loud as he enters the annex but it soon quietens down when he nears his door to unlock it and enter the room, then as soon as it shuts behind him all you can hear is a heated, muffled whisper. He sounded stressed and your first instinct is to ask him if he’s okay at dinner, but that would be getting involved, and you’re _not_ getting involved… but you will be a little more civil this evening if he attempts to strike up another conversation, he deserves a bit of friendliness after the seemingly stressful phone call he’s having.

“Not chatting to your new friend again, Danielle?” you smirk as you enter the dining room for dinner.

“We spoke plenty this morning,” she winks.

You roll your eyes and take a seat as an exasperated Gwilym enters the room with his hand mid way through his hair as he pushes his fingers through it roughly with a sigh.

“Evening,” Danielle greets him.

“Hi,” he says, forcing a smile.

He looks to you and his face visibly softens as his hand finally comes down to rest on the back of the chair to pull it out, and you give him a warm smile as his eyes appear to brighten right in front of you.

“How was your day?” he asks, his fingers fiddling with the napkin that lays underneath the cutlery.

“Good, thank you. Relaxing,” you nod, “and yours?”

“Started off great,” he smiles, “now… not so much.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” you sigh sadly, genuinely feeling bad for the guy, “if there’s anything… not that I can do much… but if you want to talk about it…”

You were getting involved.

“Careful, I might take you up on that offer by the end of the week,” he chuckles.

The rest of dinner goes by quietly and Gwilym gives you a smile and nod before leaving straight after dessert, but you find him standing outside once you’ve said goodnight to Danielle, Anna and Michael. He turns around once he hears your shoes on the concrete step and nods for you to join him standing half way up the path, looking up at the dark night sky and the tiny flecks of light that scatter throughout the deep blackness.

“How many do you think are up there?” he asks as you stand next to him.

“An infinite amount,” you whisper as you steal a glance up at his face.

“How come they’re so much more beautiful when on this island?”

“It’s magic,” you smile.

He turns to face you, seeing the way your features lit up at the thought of this place being some kind of magical destination, and as you meet his gaze, you could have sworn that a shooting star was reflected in those sparkling orbs of his.


	3. Mon 19th June

You very nearly got involved last night.

It’s 6am and all you can think about is how close you came to getting _involved_. You were standing there together with your eyes fixed on one another as the faint sound of the waves lapping at the beach below and the gentle breeze through the trees rustled the leaves gently filled your ears. The sight of his hair being caressed by the wind almost made you wish it were your fingers running through it instead, and as he began to move down towards you his phone rang out from his pocket which gave you an opportunity to run.

“Night Gwilym,” you said as you dipped your head down and walked away.

“(Y/N), I...”

“See you at breakfast,” you smiled as you turned back briefly.

You throw your forearm over your eyes as you lay there replaying the events from last night over and over in your restless mind, and eventually you get so fed up with the image of it you get up and shower well ahead of time. It’s still only 7am by the time you’ve got ready and watched some morning telly, so you decide to take a walk along the cliff path to try and clear your head before having to face Gwilym at breakfast. You shut and lock the door to your room as quietly as possible then tiptoe past his room and finally open and shut the front door to the annex with careful precision so as not to make a sound. It was all very ridiculous and not something a very nearly twenty nine year old should be doing just to avoid someone.

It’s another sunny day today and the sky is completely clear as you stare up at for a few seconds before making your way up the path towards the cliff. You open the small gate and make sure to close it properly behind you before heading straight towards the fence that was now dangerously close the edge of the cliff itself thanks to the erosion over the years. Your eyes immediately travel down to the beach where the sea was moving calmly up and down the sand and you spot a couple of dog walkers strolling along the parts that were still dry and untouched by the blue waters.

“Starting the day early as well?” a familiar voice asks from behind.

You mouth a ‘shit’ to yourself as you slowly lift your head up in preparation to face Gwilym who was now by your side with his hand a little too close to yours on the fence.

“Can’t miss an opportunity to take in this view,” you reply with a polite smile.

“It’s really something else,” he nods in agreement, then his eyes divert from yours for a second before he changes the subject, “so… about last night… I’m sorry we were interrupted, it-”

“It’s fine, really. I needed to be heading to bed anyway, so don’t worry about it. It was nothing.”

Well, sounds like someone was trying to brush it off a little _too_ much, and that someone was you.

“How about we do some more star-gazing tonight?”

“Gwilym, you seem like a lovely guy, but I’m not… I can’t… There’s a lot going on right now and I just need to take some time for myself, you know? I need it after-” you pause just before you reveal exactly why you were here alone, then take a deep breath, “everything. I’m sorry.”

He places his hand on yours softly and you move your hand so that your fingers are under his palm and your thumb is resting on his knuckles, then you take a long look at the way they seemed to fit together so well before slipping away from him and heading back inside without another look at his longing face.

Breakfast was quiet but kind glances were exchanged throughout the time you were sat together and you left before he did, bumping into Michael on the way out and stopping to have a conversation with him. It only lasts around five minutes and as he walks back into the kitchen you can hear Gwilym talking to Danielle with your name being mentioned. You take a look around before moving nearer to the door so you can hear them clearer, but thankfully the conversation is quite mundane.

“So how come someone like (Y/N) is here alone?” Gwilym asks.

“It’s not my place to say details, but she wasn’t meant to be alone when she came,” Danielle says sadly, “but we’re glad she did, because we love seeing her every year and watching her bloom into the lovely young woman you see today.”

You smile to yourself at Danielle’s compliments and an urge to run in there and give her a big hug almost overtook you; she’d never had any kids herself, so her natural motherly ways were spread among the many people who had grown up before her eyes after going back year after year to stay with them with their families.

“She certainly is a lovely young woman,” Gwilym replies, “could you tell me some more about her?”

You decide to leave at that question, it would be embarrassing listening to someone talking about you, and you were sure it would be a complete overstatement anyway, so you head back to your room to grab your things and try to fill your day with activities that wouldn’t make you wish you had someone to share them with.

“Oh!” you gasp as you open the door to your room to exit and find Gwilym standing there with his hand in the air about to knock.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you. Are you in a rush or do you have a minute to spare?”

“That’s okay… Uh, I have a minute,” you turn to lock your door as Gwilym begins to speak.

“Great, well, I’d like to take you to lunch tomorrow… No ulterior motives, I promise. Just to say sorry and, well, be a friend.”

Tomorrow was your birthday… Did you want to spend it alone, or did you want some company from the handsome stranger? It was a no brainer really, and you sort of hated yourself for being so desperate to not be on your own on your birthday. Whether he knew it was a special day or not, you didn’t know right now, but it was an offer you couldn’t refuse.

“A friendly lunch sounds lovely,” you smile.

“Perfect, excellent, thank you. I’ll see you at dinner then,” he beams as he runs a hand through his hair in relief.

“See you tonight,” you confirm before walking away and resisting the temptation to touch his soft, thick, perfectly tousled hair, and stare into his sea blue eyes.

A friendly lunch was actually exactly what you needed on such a day, and it being with someone you’d only just met sort of made everything easier for you as you wouldn’t have expressions of pity looking your way from friends and family who knew all that had happened recently, or have to think that there was someone missing from the familiar group of faces sat around you. This was a clean slate, something completely new and different, and hopefully would set the tone for your twenty ninth year on this earth.

You head off to the largest historical house on the island, taking your time as you stroll slowly from room to room, making sure you take in everything the small plaques have to say about each room and item you pass. You almost feel regal yourself as you notice your back straightening as you continue to walk around, and when you look out of one of the bedroom windows to see the mainland on the horizon, you gasp. It certainly wasn’t the first time you’d been here or seen this view, but it never ceased to amaze you, and it didn’t take a genius to work out why this member of the Royal family chose this location. All thoughts of anyone else faded into the background as you continued the tour around the house, and when you finally get outside you’re feeling calmer than ever before.

When it’s time to head back to the guest house in time for dinner the thoughts of everyone else start to creep back in, but the first person to enter your mind apart from your parents is Gwilym, and you shock yourself at the thought. As you park up back at base you spot the man who had invaded your thoughts as he walks up the path, and as if he knew you were eyeing him he turns around which makes you stupidly duck down over the passenger seat.

“Idiot, idiot, idiot,” you whisper to yourself as you fiddle with your bag.

There’s a knock at your window which causes you to snap up from your hunched over position and when you look to your right there’s Gwilym waving at you as he chuckles to himself. You smile back before grabbing your bag and opening up your car door as he steps backwards to allow you some room to get out, and you curse yourself for being such a fool and hiding from him.

“How was your day?” he asks.

“Good thanks, spent it pretending I owned a massive stately home,” you reply as you both walk towards the guest house, “and yours?”

“Sounds delightful,” he grins, “mine was okay, I explored the harbour a little, but I still need to take a drive over the other side of the island. Everyone’s been telling me how beautiful the scenery is over there.”

“To be fair there’s not a lot of places here that aren’t beautiful, but they’re right about that end, it’s utterly perfect. You’ll need to be a passenger though, as the road goes right along by the cliff and the views are absolutely stunning.”

“Looks like I’ll have to find someone who’s extremely nice, knows the place like the back of her hand, and is just as beautiful as any view on this island...” he says thoughtfully while you walk side by side through the garden to the door of the annex.

“You know how busy Danielle is, I’m not sure she’ll have the time,” you reply as you unlock the door.

“Well that _is_ a shame,” he sighs, “do you know anyone else who fits the criteria?”

You laugh as you feel the slightest blush creep across your cheeks then change the subject completely, “better freshen up for dinner!”

Gwilym watches as you disappear into your room quickly, then as soon as the door shuts you rest your forehead against it with a long sigh. All you have to do is get through dinner and then you haven’t got to worry again until tomorrow morning when you’ll be turning another year older, and hopefully a little wiser.


	4. Tues 20th June

You wake up with excitement already bubbling around in your stomach at the fact it was your birthday, and definitely _not_ the fact that you were having lunch with Gwilym later on. It was like it was your own little secret that today was such a special day for you, and it made you giggle like a teenager as you slipped out of bed to see the first couple of messages from well wishers. You jump in the shower and wash your hair in record time, just before your mum rings to sing happy birthday down the phone with your dad.

“Thank you,” you laugh, “I can’t wait to get back and have my birthday all over again, except this time with presents and cards!”

“We look forward to having you back, dear,” your mum replies, “we’re missing you, but it sounds as if this break is doing you the world of good. There’s a happiness in your voice we haven’t heard for a while...”

“That’s because it’s my birthday!” you grin excitedly.

“Nothing else?”

“Nothing else mum,” you say as you roll your eyes.

“Alright, well keep us updated on how you’re spending your birthday. Speak soon, love you.”

“Love you too.”

The time for breakfast soon comes around, and after putting on a nice floral midi dress for the special occasion, you make your way to the dining room where you find Gwilym sitting at your table with a balloon floating behind him which is the shape of a cake with the words ‘happy birthday!’ written across it. You begin to laugh as you sit down opposite him, shaking your head in embarrassment as others file in to the room and wish you well for your birthday. Gwilym stares at you with a broad smile across his face as your face flushes with heat, and when you finally meet his gaze he then hands you a card.

“Oh my… Oh god…” you say as you take it from him, “thank you… oh dear, this is embarrassing!”

“No it’s not,” he chuckles, “it’s the least you deserve. Everyone needs to know it’s your birthday.”

“How did _you_ know?”

“I may have got some inside information off of Danielle, and I simply couldn’t have you sitting alone on your birthday, so you’re stuck with me this morning and this evening… and all day actually, being as we have lunch together too,” he beams.

“Wow, a whole day of you? What more could I wish for on my birthday, eh?” you wink.

“Not a lot, because I’m absolutely fantastic company and will be the highlight of your day!”

You laugh as you open up the card he’d given you, then thank him again once you’ve read it and placed it on the windowsill next to you. Danielle soon comes over with your breakfasts and you stand up for a cuddle and a kiss as she wishes you a happy birthday, and she scuttles off to get your present and card.

“Here you are darling, this is from all of us,” she smiles as she places a small bag on the table.

“You really didn’t have to,” you say as you open up the bag and take out a box which contains a silver necklace in the shape of the island, “oh my goodness this is beautiful! Thank you so much!”

“Let me,” Gwilym smiles as you lift the chain out of the box.

He gets up as Danielle gets back to serving the other guests, then carefully takes the necklace from your fingers before moving behind your chair and draping the thin silver chain around the front of your neck while you quickly move your hair out of the way for him to fasten the jewellery. He sits back down in front of you and you watch as his eyes travel from the necklace up to your eyes before his chest puffs out as he takes a deep breath in.

“Beautiful,” he exhales, “you look… it looks… stunning.”

And just like that, you found yourself completely and utterly involved with this man. It wasn’t a shock, you sort of knew it would be inevitable with how persistent he was with getting to know you, and now he’d done it, he’d successfully infiltrated your tight circle of trust.

“So where are we going?” you ask once you’re walking towards his car after breakfast.

“Oh no, I’m not telling. It’s your birthday, you need some surprises!” he says as he unlocks the car and you get into the passenger’s seat.

“What if I don’t like surprises?”

“Then this is your opportunity to get to like them,” he winks before starting the engine and reversing out of the space.

You both sit in a comfortable silence until his phone begins to ring and even though he has hands free in the car he cancels the call quickly, then takes the chance to switch off the bluetooth and put his phone on silent while you’re waiting at a railway crossing. It doesn’t take long for you to recognise where you’re going and you feel quite excited about the prospect being as it was the posh side of the island where large beach houses sat proudly with their all glass facades allowing you a peek into how the other half live with their private beach acting as their garden. Your face turns into one of pure disbelief when Gwilym turns towards the large electronic gates of one of them, clicks a small button up by his sun visor, then drives through when they open up.

“Umm… Are you going to explain this whole situation, or are you just going to leave me guessing that you’re secretly a millionaire?” you ask as he parks up and undoes his belt.

“Sorry, yes, not a millionaire unfortunately. This is my parent’s place. They had friends staying until yesterday, hence why I’m not staying here for the week, but I thought that maybe this would be an ideal setting for a 29th birthday. What do you think?”

You look up at the grand exterior that looked as if it was straight out of Grand Designs, then nod after being rendered completely speechless by the sight of it.

“Excellent!” Gwil grins, “let’s begin the celebrations then!”

He unlocks the door and pushes it open to allow you entry first, and as soon as you’re inside you gasp at how modern and clean everything was; the floor so incredibly polished that you were sure you were about to slip and fall any moment, the huge sliding glass doors that lead to the private beach so spotless you were worried about even breathing near them, and the kitchen that you’d never have the guts to make a cup of tea in for fear of spilling a drop of water or milk.

“Right,” you manage to squeak as you look out onto the decking at the back with actual beds just waiting to be reclined on.

“Do you like it? I wasn’t sure about where to take you, but we have the chef coming to make lunch with the freshest seafood you’ve ever had in your life.”

“The chef?”

“Too much?”

“Nope,” you croak as you shake your head from side to side in shock, “not too much. Just… Er… unexpected.”

“Well, how about we ease into today with some relaxation?” he suggests with a smile, unlocking and opening one of the huge sliding doors to the beach, “which bed would you like? Or can I tempt you into the cocoon?”

“What’s the cocoon?”

He takes your hand and leads you outside until you see another piece of extravagant outdoor furniture, this time much bigger.

“ _This_ is the cocoon,” he says as he gestures to it with his free hand, “it’s basically a jumped up double bed.”

That was putting it mildly; it was a huge bed with half of it covered by a curved hood that shielded whoever was inside it from the sun, and there was a netting that could be pulled down over the rest of the bed for those occasions where you wanted to sleep outside but not get bitten to death by bugs.

“I think I can be tempted by the cocoon,” you nod, thinking about how cosy it would be inside.

“I was hoping you’d say that… Right, well you get inside and I’ll get the drinks!”

You kick your shoes off and crawl inside, getting one of the plush pillows and placing it underneath your head with a content sigh as you sink into the soft surroundings, then Gwil appears at the opening with two flutes of what you assume is champagne, and probably the really expensive stuff too.

“You look like you’ve made yourself at home already,” he grins as he shuffles in carefully and passes you a glass, “cheers to you, happy birthday (Y/N).”

He presses a long, lingering kiss to the side of your mouth, so very close to your lips that you could almost taste him, and when he pulls back as little as possible your gaze immediately travels from his mouth to his eyes before he leans back in again. His phone begins to vibrate continuously before he reaches your lips and he sighs defeatedly as you quickly take a sip of drink and prop yourself up against the covered headboard so you can look out at the sea.

“Sorry about that,” he exhales as he sits up next to you after cancelling the call.

“Don’t be,” you shrug, “this is all incredible. Everything is perfect as it is.”

“So how come you’re over here on your own on your birthday?” he enquires as he settles in next to you.

“I won’t bore you with the details but I recently broke up with someone,” you say quickly, not wanting to go into the specifics of it today of all days, “we were together for four years and it didn’t end on good terms. Anyway, what’s your story then?”

“I just… Needed a break from life. There’s a lot going on and I had to get away for a while.”

“That’s fair, I guess I sort of used this to run away for a bit. Not that I’m saying _you’ve_ run away… I, oh I don’t know. I hope everything is better for you when you get home anyway.”

“To be honest, I have. But I’m really glad I did.”

He turns to you quite purposefully and you tilt your head to the side to meet his gaze, then the inevitable happens and his lips connect with yours so very softly and timidly until you return the kiss, and there are so many feelings in this exchange that it almost scares you. This kiss is real, something you haven’t felt for a very long time, and the way his free hand tangles through your hair to deepen the kiss shows you passion like you’ve never felt before. When the kiss finally breaks for you both to take a deep breath, both of you are in a stunned silence at how the two of you felt during the embrace, and as Gwilym slides his hand away from you, he takes a moment to stroke your cheek with his thumb softly.

“I… I really…” he stumbles, but the sound of the chef arriving at the front door soon stops him from saying something he could regret.

He plants one more kiss upon your wanting lips before he shuffles out of the cocoon to answer the door, and you’re left to down the rest of your drink before practically collapsing against the headboard as your whole body turns to jelly. It almost makes you wish you’d given in to his advances earlier on, but maybe the timing was perfect as it was; it was certainly making your birthday one you’d never forget.

“Come and see the artist at work,” Gwil grins from the end of the sun bed with his arm already outstretched for you.

The rest of the day goes far too quickly in a blur of laughter, kisses, affectionate touches, and finally a walk along the empty private beach, your toes sinking into the wet sand as the tide laps slowly at your feet while you stroll leisurely. The conversation with Gwilym just seems to flow so easily, and as you get into the car after one of the best days of your life so far, you can’t help but feel a little sad at the week going by so quickly. Not a word is uttered as he drives you both back in time for dinner but on a few occasions he reaches out for your hand and lifts it to his lips so he can kiss the back of it.

“See you very soon,” he smiles as he stands over you when you get to your door.

“Very soon,” you grin before he leaves you with a longing kiss.

You almost fall through the door of your room when you unlock it, and as you land face down on the bed with a muffled giggle you realise that this is the first time this week that you’ve felt truly happy and as if the rest of the world had melted away.

Gwilym appears at your door a short while later to escort you to dinner and there you find another balloon as everyone in the dining room sings happy birthday to you in a very embarrassing moment that makes you blush profusely as you thank them all. Gwil takes your hand afterwards and gives it a comforting squeeze and the conversation between you both just keeps on flowing throughout dinner as you only take pauses to chew your food. A beautiful birthday cake consists of your dessert and you share it out among the rest of the diners around you who are all very thankful, then it’s back to just you and Gwilym as you both retreat to the annex together.

“Can I interest you in a coffee?” he asks as you get to his door.

“Yeah,” you sigh happily, “why not?”

You enter his room and he gestures for you to sit on the bed due to the single chair in the corner being overrun by clothes he can’t be bothered to hang up in the wardrobe, and he takes the kettle to fill up from the bathroom sink.

“So have you enjoyed your day?” he calls out.

“I have, thanks to you.”

“You deserve it. You deserve everything, you have this glow about you, even when you were guarding yourself I could tell that you were the kindest person at heart.”

“Thank you,” you mutter timidly, “I didn’t mean to be such a… bitch, really. It’s just with everything that’s happened recently, I thought that this was the last thing I needed. But I’ve realised it’s exactly what I needed.”

“Good, because you’re exactly what I need.”

You open your mouth to respond, but no appropriate words come to mind, and as the kettle boils Gwil quickly excuses himself to go to the bathroom. You sit there in mild shock until his phone that was thrown hastily onto the bed next to you begins to buzz with one message after another, and with a quick glance at the device you can’t help but notice the word ‘wedding’. Your eyes stay fixed to the screen until the next message comes through and when it does, you stand from the bed in horror with your hand clasped over your mouth.

- _Do you want to get married or not?_

Gwilym appears from the bathroom and you slowly take your hands away from your face as you point to his phone.

“You should really get in touch with your fiancée,” you say, your voice shaking a little as his face falls.

“(Y/N), I’m sorry, I-”

“No, no, no. Russell cheated on me, and I’m sure as hell not going to put any other woman through what I went through. How dare you,” you whisper as you leave, your head now more of a mess than it was when you arrived.


	5. Wed 21st June

You wake up with a fuzzy head after not getting a lot of sleep the night before and memories of what happened yesterday soon come flooding back; the good, the great, and the downright awful way the day ended. Your head was still spinning from everything that had happened and it was making you feel so sick you thought you were about to throw up any second. Gwilym had video called his fiancée last night, you’d heard snippets through the wall, but you’d put your headphones on for a couple of hours so that you could block it all out and let him get on with it in private. It wasn’t for you to hear, _she_ needed to hear what he had to say, not you. You felt cheated once again thanks to him not being honest with you, and it was the worst feeling in the world after finally letting him in to your life.

You should have stuck to your guns.

You should have kept pushing him away.

You should have known better after everything that had happened.

When you swing your legs out of bed and begrudgingly get out from underneath the warm covers, you spot a folded white sheet of paper that’s been pushed underneath your door, and you immediately know who it’s from. You go and pick it up with a heavy sigh, then reluctantly open it up to see a hastily written note from Gwilym.

_(Y/N),_

_I knew the engagement was a mistake from the moment she said yes – the pressure of everyone around me moving on with their lives; getting married and having children became overwhelming and I thought that the best thing to do was join them._

_I didn’t mean to involve you in any of this, it’s my mistake that I need to fix, and I promise I will. Being with you today has ignited something within me that I never thought would come to life again._

_Please believe me when I say I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry._

_I didn’t mean for any of this to happen but my heart just couldn’t stop itself when I saw you, and I followed it blindly without thinking of the consequences._

_I didn’t mean to fall for you, but I did._

_The engagement is over, it never really began anyway._

_Please give me a chance to talk to you face to face. After dinner, on the cliff path. Please. X_

A tear falls from your cheek onto the paper unexpectedly as you realise that you’d also foolishly followed your heart instead of listening to your head, and you can’t help but remember the words that you’d heard being exchanged between him and his fiancée.

“You don’t want to go through with this, do you?” she’d asked immediately upon answering.

“I… I can’t.”

“Well the 30 unanswered calls and god knows how many texts told me that. You could have at least said something before you ran away.”

“I didn’t run away, I needed some time and space-”

“I knew this was going to happen. I fucking knew it.”

“What?”

“As soon as I said yes to you, you turned into someone else, and now I can see already that you look more like the person you were before you asked me the question,” she’d snapped.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“Me?! Why didn’t _I_ say something?! Why the fuck didn’t you? I loved you. I wanted to make it work.”

“I’m so sorry. So very sorry, Rosie. I don’t know what to say.”

“There’s nothing you can say. I’ll get your sister to pick up your belongings from mine and drop them at your parent’s. You can do the explaining to them. Goodbye Gwilym.”

You wince at the memory of her cutting him off like that, knowing that he would now be dreading going back home, but it couldn’t soften your heart and how you personally felt about him; you were still filled with anger and hurt at it all. It didn’t even come into it that he deemed the relationship over, the fact of the matter was that he had been engaged when he kissed you, and after what you’d had happen to you, it was the worst thing in the world he could have done.

You trudge towards your door after getting dressed, then hold your breath as you listen for any movement from the next room, and when you’re satisfied that Gwil’s not around you sneak out and into the breakfast room before anyone else.

“You’re early!” Danielle smiles as you walk towards her, but her grin soon fades when she takes a proper look at you; your eyes dark and heavy from lack of sleep, your mouth turned down into an unintentional grimace, “are you okay?”

“Just feeling under the weather today, I won’t be here for breakfast I’m afraid,” you sigh to exaggerate the fact you didn’t feel well.

“Not a problem darling, do you want some toast to take to your room?”

“No, no, I’m fine. Thank you though.”

You quickly slip back to your room until you hear Gwilym exit to go to breakfast, then make your escape while everyone’s eating and drive out to one of your favourite beauty spots to just sit and think things over in the tranquil surroundings of the countryside. Your thoughts soon turn to how you can avoid going to dinner, but dammit you were a fucking adult and had to face this head on instead of running away and hiding from it all; pretending none of this had ever happened. The buzzing from your phone soon drags you back to the present moment and when you see it’s your mum you almost burst into tears right there and then.

“Hello,” you answer meekly.

“What happened sweetheart?” she sighs. She was your mother, she knew already.

“Oh, mum,” you sob, “it’s a mess.”

The next hour or so is spent alternating between conversation and crying both on the nearby bench and then in your car when other people appear, and your mum listens to everything you have to say carefully until you run out of tears and words.

“And why did you bring his note with you when you left the guest house?” she asks, much to your confusion.

“Well, I… I don’t… I just put it in my bag, I don’t know why. Is it relevant?”

“You tell me.”

“Well I guess I just wanted to read over it again before dinner.”

“Because you want to give him the chance to talk to you? He’s obviously very taken by you, and he hasn’t held back in expressing his feelings about you, even if it is a rather short period of time. Who can blame him though? You’re beautiful, intelligent-”

“Mum.”

“What? I’m just saying, you can’t blame him for liking you… Even if he has gone about this the completely wrong way and made himself look like a total and utter arsehole in the process.”

You manage to let out a short laugh at her observation of the situation, he has indeed made himself look like a complete prick to be honest.

“Hmm,” you hum in agreement, “I definitely agree with the arsehole bit.”

“But, on the other hand, he has done the right thing his side with breaking things off.”

“But he didn’t tell her he kissed me.”

“Things were over as soon as he ran away like a cowardly muppet. He didn’t need to say anything about the kiss, love. It wasn’t you that broke them apart, that’s all down to him and the fact that he never should have proposed in the first place.”

“Yeah,” you sigh, “true. Still doesn’t change the fact that he wasn’t upfront with me though.”

“Oh of course it doesn’t, and I fully expect you to give him hell for that, especially after what happened with Russell… But I would give him a chance to talk to you face to face. It doesn’t mean you’re okay with anything, and it doesn’t even mean you’ll talk to him for the remainder of your stay, it just means you’re mature enough to hear what he has to say and give him a bit of a bollocking for acting like a twat at the same time.”

“Haha!” you laugh, “he’s definitely getting a bollocking, don’t you worry mum.”

“You really like him, don’t you?” she asks, already knowing your answer.

“Yeah… unfortunately.”

“It’s not unfortunate at all, you needed _something_ to take your mind off Russell. It’s just a shame he’s a bit of a twit,” your mum chuckles.

“Just goes to show there’s no such thing as a perfect man!” you reply, “I should have known there’d be something wrong with someone so handsome.”

“Well it could be worse, just try and think on that. Now you get something to eat please, and then text me when you’ve spoken to him tonight.”

“Will do. Love you.”

“Love you too darling.”

You let out a long and loud sigh as you tilt your head back on the head rest, then put your phone in your bag along with the note you’d read out to your mum, and decide on where to go for lunch; all that crying had really worked up an appetite.

The time goes far too quickly for you, and you find yourself clenching your teeth the entire drive back to the guest house. You wait outside for a few minutes before eventually undoing your seatbelt and making your way inside, then you rush to your room and shut yourself in until you absolutely have to leave it and face Gwilym again. Your stomach couldn’t help but feel nervous at seeing him again, it was a wild mix of emotions that you felt, and when you take your seat in the dining room your heart is racing inside your chest. He walks in not long after you but stays silent as he nods and smiles to the other guests who are already seated, then he looks directly at you, the sadness in his eyes evident already as you quickly turn away for fear of crying.

“Are you-” he begins.

“How are you feeling now darling?” Danielle interrupts, positioning herself between your tables to block his view.

“Better, thanks,” you nod as she places your starter down in front of you.

“Good to hear,” she smiles as she gives your shoulder a squeeze.

Gwilym takes the hint and doesn’t attempt any further conversation while you’re eating, then you make the first move as you exit the dining room before him, taking a slow stroll up the garden and eventually out onto the cliff path. Your fingers wrap around the cold metal of the fence that separates you from the sea below as you await Gwil’s arrival, and as soon as you see his familiar figure lingering next to you, your grip gets a little tighter.

“I’m sorry. So very sorry (Y/N),” he sighs, “I didn’t-”

“Why?” you butt in quietly but confidently, “why did you do that to me? It was quite literally the worst thing you could have done.”

“I didn’t realise that Russell had cheated on you, I was stupid to do that, I wasn’t thinking straight at all...”

“I mean, I realise that your relationship was over before that happened, but it doesn’t change the fact that you were still engaged when we kissed,” you sigh, letting go of the fence and turning to face him properly, “do you know how shit that made me feel? Being involved in a situation that was dangerously close to what had _just_ happened to me, but on the other side of it?”

“I’m _sorry_ ,” he sighs defeatedly, “I don’t know what else to say. There was no excuse for how I acted, I simply shouldn’t have done it without properly ending things first. Russell was a fucking prick to do that to you, and now I’ve acted like a prick. I’m not really a prick though, honestly, and all I did was follow my heart… and I know you did too, otherwise you wouldn’t have let me in like you did. I betrayed your trust, and I’ll never forgive myself for doing that, because it’s true what I said yesterday, you deserve everything that’s good in this world.”

You pinch the bridge of your nose, half to stop yourself from crying and half because he’d just said everything you wanted him to say even though you didn’t want to let him off that easy on this.

“Come and sit with me,” he offers, taking your free hand and leading you over the to bench.

You both take a seat; his arm automatically draping around your shoulders and his thumb rubbing your t-shirt comfortingly.

“I don’t expect to be forgiven straight away,” he says quietly, “but I’m not going to just leave things like this. I can’t. I’m in too deep. I need you in my life (Y/N), and I don’t think you realise the effect you’ve had on me these last few days.”

“Well, I obviously made you forget you had a fiancée yesterday…” you say with a sideways glance.

“I deserved that,” Gwil nods, “that was a dick move on my part, I hold my hands up.”

“Mhmm,” you hum in agreement.

Within a matter of seconds he’s on his knees in front of you, holding your hands in his as he meets your confused gaze with pleading eyes that were glistening in the dim street light a few feet from the seat you were on.

“I will do anything… _anything_ … to spend the next few days with you. _Please_. Give me a chance to show you I’m not a complete dickhead,” a stray tear falls down his cheek, but his grip on your hands only tightens as he awaits your answer, “I promise I’ll make it up to you by the end of the week.”

“When we’ll inevitably go our separate ways...” you sigh, seeing the end before it’s already begun.

“We won’t,” he replies, shaking his head furiously from side to side, “that won’t happen because I won’t let it, but we don’t even have to think about that yet. Just follow your heart one more time and I swear I won’t let you down.”

You slip a hand from his and his face visibly drops at your action until you reach out towards him slowly and wipe away the tears that had fallen upon his cheeks while he was speaking. There was a hell of a lot of making up to do, but if he believed that he could do it all by the end of the week, then who were you to stop him from attempting it? You relent, signifying your decision by giving him a single nod, and his face lifts instantly into a smile.


	6. Thurs 22nd June

Your legs move first as you begin to stir from your slumber, sliding back and expecting to drop off the side of the single bed but instead they bump into something that prevents them from moving any further, and your eyes fly open to see the unfamiliar wallpaper of a different room. You inhale and hold your breath as you turn onto your back, spotting the outline of Gwilym under the covers next to you, and you quickly lift the duvet to see that you were still in your top with a pair of his shorts covering your lower half.

Your brain catches up to the current events and you remember how you agreed to go back to his room for a much needed cup of tea, then drifting off on the bed as you both watched telly; eventually ending with him throwing you some shorts so you didn’t have to move from your very comfortable spot on the bed. Taking a deep breath you turn your head to the side to see Gwil’s peaceful face as he stayed asleep next to you, and even though there was no denying how much you liked him there was still that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that reminded you this wasn’t the ideal situation it should have been.

Quietly slipping your legs out of bed, you move the duvet carefully and try not to make any sudden movements to wake him up but as soon as you reach your bag and jeans on the chair in the corner you hear him groan as he comes around, and you quickly gather your belongings in your arms and head for the door, unlocking it and letting yourself out within a few seconds. You fumble around in your bag as you stand outside your own door looking for the key, and Gwilym rushes out of his room as he drags his hand down over his face.

“You didn’t have to go,” he says, standing there in only his pyjama shorts.

“I’ve got to shower and get changed before breakfast!”

“There’s plenty of time for that, come back to bed.”

“Gwilym, just get back in your room, what if Danielle walks in and sees you like that?!” you half laugh, your eyes lingering on his broad torso and the generous scattering of dark hair that covered the top of it.

“I don’t care! I want everyone to know that I think you should come back to my bed!” he grins, his voice a little louder than you’d like it to be.

“Shh! Keep your voice down!”

“There’s no one else in this half of the guest house apart from us! Now _please_ come back to bed.”

“I won’t deny that it’s a very tempting offer, but I really have got to shower,” you say apologetically as you finally find the key and lift it from your bag, “I’ll see you at breakfast anyway.”

He pouts at you as your open your door and you have to disappear inside sharpish before you end up running your hands across his warm and inviting body, because it would only end with your lips on his chest and nothing good would come of that. Well, it would, but he was engaged to someone else less than 48 hours ago, so it would be mad. It was nice having someone to sleep next to though, you can’t deny that, and it was even nicer that it was him. Your mind wanders while you’re in the shower, thinking about how he planned to make everything up to you, and you can’t help but hold out some hope that he’d take you back to the beach house so that you could spend some time alone together, then he could get on his knees, spread yours apart, and truly apologise…

“(Y/N)? (Y/N) are you ready?” you hear him call out as the sound of your door opening makes you jump.

“I’m in the bathroom!” you call back, splashing your face with some water to get the image of his head between your thighs out of your mind.

“Do you mind if I take a seat?” he asks through the door.

“Of course not,” you reply, looking over to see you’d thankfully piled everything you were going to wear on top of the closed loo seat; you really should lock the room door behind you next time.

It’s a few minutes before you emerge from the steamy bathroom with a maxi length strappy dress on and your hair twirled up into a towel on top of your head, and Gwil is sitting on the chair in your room looking up at the telly on the wall while he waits.

“So I was thinking…” he begins, his eyes travelling up and down your body as you pass him his shorts, “thank you… erm, yeah so how do you feel about going to the house again?”

Your lower half twitches at the thought and you give him a smile and a nod in response as you curse inwardly at yourself for the inappropriate images that were racing through your mind, but when you look at him you can see you’re not the only one; maybe he thinks that getting on his knees is the best way to say sorry as well?

“Sounds good,” you exhale, “we can talk properly, and…” you trail off, completely unable to finish your sentence without insinuating something you really shouldn’t.

“...and I can start to make it up to you. _Properly_. No interruptions,” he finishes, definitely implying something he really shouldn’t.

You go to breakfast together, Danielle keeping a beady eye on the two of you as Gwil sits himself down at your table again, moving his cutlery over while you give Danielle a smile, but she’s wary of the situation and you spend a few minutes after breakfast has finished to explain that he still has a job on his hands to convince you he’s sorry.

“Make him beg,” she grins.

“Oh, I will,” you wink.

There’s an electricity in the air throughout the drive and he’s continually suggestive throughout the whole journey, his hand wandering over to your thigh when it should have been on the gear stick instead, and by the time you arrive at the house you’re both practically panting with the anticipation of what’s to come. As soon as you both cross that threshold into the house it dissipates into the atmosphere and you both calm down as the stark memories of your birthday take over, and how that day ended so badly for both of you.

“So tell me,” you begin, linking your arm through his as he walks to the sliding doors to let some air in, “what was the trigger for you proposing to the wrong person? I’m not trying to make a dig at you, I just genuinely would like to know.”

“It was… all different things that added up to the second biggest mistake of my life.”

“What’s the first?”

“Betraying your trust.”

“Ah,” you say with raised eyebrows as you both turn back to the sofa.

“So, first off her sister got pregnant, then it was baby this and baby that which was fine at first but started to grate when I couldn’t see myself having children with her. Then my best mate got married, I was best man and people wouldn’t stop going on about how it would be me next, and I think the final straw was when my younger brother moved out of our parent’s house to move in with his partner. It just seemed like everyone around us was taking the next step, and I was scared that if I didn’t then I never would,” he explains as you watch him intently as he speaks.

“You settled for something that wasn’t meant for you in a panic,” you nod, “I understand, it makes sense. To be honest I saw warning signs from Russell but chose to ignore them because I thought that it was too late to move on, that I wouldn’t find anyone else. So you went into the engagement thinking that this would be it for you?”

“Pretty much, and I know that was wrong of me, I just didn’t think how it would affect her because I thought I was giving her what she wanted. She knew though, she could tell I didn’t want it. What were the warning signs you saw with Russell?” he questions, turning his body to face you and lifting one bent leg up onto the sofa.

“Ah, just little things,” you sigh, looking down and fiddling with the fabric of your dress as you recall those moments, “I’d walk into a room he was in and he’d be really engrossed in his phone, then when I’d speak he’d jump and get angry as if I’d sneaked up on him on purpose, trying to shift blame onto me sort of thing. Then he said he’d joined the gym so would go there about three or four times a week after work, and when I suggested I go with him he tried to make me feel like I was being paranoid saying things like ‘don’t you trust me?’ ‘are you trying to check up on me?’ when I hadn’t even mentioned anything of the sort. It was… horrible.”

“Oh my god, (Y/N), how long did that go on for?” Gwil gasps as he cups his hands around your restless fingers and caresses them gently.

“Best part of a year I’d say… It only got worse, forever trying to accuse me of spying or being clingy when I hadn’t even questioned him about his behaviour once. But then I guess that’s what you’ll put up with when you think that’s you’re only choice, right?”

“No one should have to put up with that, especially you of all people. You deserve someone who’ll show you just how amazing you are every single day of your life… Someone tall, dark, handsome, maybe his parents own a really nice house on the beach, you know, someone like that, huh?” he grins, lifting your hands to his mouth and kissing your knuckles.

“But what if he decides I’m not for him?” you ask, slipping your hands from his.

“I… What? Why would that ever happen?”

“Why did it happen the first time?”

“That’s completely… That’s nothing to do with this! I wouldn’t… I could never feel like that about you because when you know, you know. And I know that it’s you,” he says earnestly, “when I say I’ve never felt like this about anyone before, _I mean it_. This isn’t some spiel that I’m reciting because I want to have sex with you, not yet anyway, this is because I desperately need you to know I’m serious about this and whatever there is between us, because you can’t tell me there’s nothing, needs to explored properly. Beyond this holiday.”

“Beyond this holiday?” you ask, cocking an eyebrow at him.

“Way beyond,” he nods.

“Bit disappointed about the sex comment though,” you wink, and suddenly the heavy mood that had filled the space around you both now instantly lightens as he lets out a much needed laugh.

“Good things come to those who wait,” he smirks.

“It’d better be mind blowing then.”

“I won’t disappoint,” he winks.

“Good to hear, now what are we doing for lunch because I’m starving,” you chuckle.

“Do you believe me though?” he asks.

“I do,” you smile, leaning over to him and placing a hand gently on his cheek as you leave a soft kiss on his lips.

“Good,” he exhales as you pull away, “now what do you fancy for lunch?”

“Hmm, I’m easy, what do you want?” you ask, leaning back on the sofa as he stands up and looks down at you with yearning eyes.

“I… Jesus, I can’t answer that right now. I’m going to google the nearest takeaways,” he huffs, tearing his gaze away from you and fishing out his phone from his pocket as you laugh at his comment.

You sit together again at dinner when you finally get back to the guest house a little later than you should have and Danielle notices that the smile on your face doesn’t even fade when you’re eating, making sure to comment on the fact that you both look much happier than you did the previous day, and when you both make your way back to the annex there’s only one question Gwilym wants to ask.

“Will you stay with me again?”


	7. Fri 23rd June

There was a lot less bewilderment when you woke up this time, knowing that you’d be in a room that wasn’t yours next to the man who had hijacked your holiday for one, and a smile creeps across your lips as you come around to find yourself wrapped up in his arms with your head resting against his muscular chest and your legs intertwined with his as if you were both two parts of the same puzzle. You’d forgotten what a truly blissful feeling it was to wake up next to someone, to feel their warmth covering you so much that you didn’t need the duvet, to smile as you feel your head rising and falling with every breath they take, and to just feel wanted again. Everything felt different this time though, not just because it was another person but because it genuinely felt as if they liked you just as much as you liked them, and there was no confusion over where you stood.

“No,” Gwilym frowns sleepily with his eyes closed as you try and escape his grasp, “no moving yet.”

“But I need the toilet,” you whisper.

“Nope,” he mumbles, his arms tightening around your body.

“Yes!”

You laugh as you peel yourself away from his body then slip out from underneath the duvet and quickly make your way to the bathroom across the carpeted floor, then you smile as you return to see Gwil’s arm already outstretched for you to resume your original position at his side, his eyes still closed as he refuses to wake before the alarm goes off.

“Don’t just stand there,” he grins without opening an eyelid, “come back to where you belong.”

“Where I belong?” you laugh as you lift the covers to get back in.

“Mhmm,” he hums, “with me.”

You raise your eyebrows as his answer and your mouth opens and closes as you try to find something to say back, but you’re not entirely sure what you _could_ say to such a statement, and as he lazily drapes his arms around you to pull you back into his side all you can do is smile at his words. The two of you soon fall asleep again, and you only wake when you feel Gwilym’s fingers running through your hair to gently rouse you from your slumber.

“What’s the time?” you ask as you stretch your arms above your head, “how come you’re dressed?”

“Half seven, got half an hour before breakfast,” he replies softly.

“Shit! Why didn’t you wake me?!” you panic as you throw the covers off of you and collect your belongings to head next door.

“Do you know how cute you look when you’re asleep?! I couldn’t wake you before I absolutely had to I’m afraid.”

“Thanks, I guess,” you say with a roll of your eyes, “see you at breakfast.”

“Erm, (Y/N)?”

“Yeah?”

“Forgetting something are we?” he smirks as he holds up your bra which is hanging from his little finger.

You look down at the top you were wearing then back up to him and narrow your eyes before crawling across the bed to retrieve the item of clothing, but he moves it away as soon as you reach out for it.

“Gwilym, I really don’t have time for this!”

“We’ve got all the time in the world,” he smiles, his gaze darting from your eyes to your lips.

Just like that you are putty in his hands and he soon has you on your back on top of the bed covers, his face hovering dangerously close to yours with a smug smile across it, then his lips meet yours in a needy kiss and your hands are quick to pull his weight down on top of you. Your hips grind together, the bulge in his trousers rubbing against your knickers as your arousal seeps into fabric of them, and as his lips travel down over your jaw to your exposed neck an involuntary moan escapes your mouth. Just as his fingers tease their way past the hem of your t-shirt the bell rings from outside the room to signify it was eight already.

“Fuck!” you gasp, as Gwil groans, “you’re going to have to say I’m ill or something!”

“Why can’t you come as you are?” he pouts as he lifts himself off of the bed begrudgingly.

“Oh yeah, I’ll just wander into the dining room with bed hair wearing my knickers and your t-shirt with no bra underneath!”

“Well I’m pretty sure the old guy on the table opposite us would enjoy the view almost as much as me.”

“Fuck off,” you laugh, getting off the bed and pulling on your jeans, “pass me my bra would you?”

He throws it over to you and you turn around to whip off the top so you can put your bra on and cover yourself again, then you run your fingers through your hair to try and sort out the tangled mess to be at least a bit more presentable, and finally you nod towards the door.

“Morning you two,” Danielle smiles when you take your seats.

“Morning,” you chime together.

“Do I need to go and clean your room today, or can I save my poor old legs?” she asks with a knowing raise of her eyebrows.

“You can save your legs Danielle,” you confirm.

“Good… Very good! Well I hope you two are having fun together...”

“We are,” Gwil grins, “...not like that though, I haven’t… We haven’t…”

“You don’t need to explain to me!” Danielle laughs as she backs away after placing your breakfasts down.

“Great, now she definitely thinks we’ve had sex,” you whisper, “she’s like family and now she thinks I’ve slept with you under their roof.”

“Well if she thinks we’ve done it already, then it doesn’t matter if we do...” Gwilym winks.

“I haven’t forgiven you that much quite yet.”

“You almost did this morning!”

“I would have stopped you eventually...” you lie.

“Yeah, right after you’d screamed my name while you came,” he smirks.

“Gwilym!” you gasp, “you know me so well already.”

Once breakfast is over for another day you both head back to the annex and gather your things from his room to take back into yours, but he stops you when you go to open his door by taking a hold of your arm gently, and you turn to see a concerned look upon his face.

“What’s wrong?” you question.

“What’s wrong?” he scoffs as if you should know what’s going through his mind, “it’s our last night together tonight and tomorrow is our last morning… What’s going to happen then?”

“Can’t we just enjoy today without thinking so far ahead?” you sigh.

“No,” he states defiantly with a shake of his head, “I need to know I’m going to see you again, I need to know that this isn’t the last time I get to sleep next to you, because I really don’t know what I’ll do if it is.”

“Can’t we just enjoy today for what it is? We only live about an hour away from each other anyway, so of course we can see one another when we’re back home.”

“No, no, that’s not the same, you’re being vague. What about _us_?”

You want to run away, you never liked talking about your feelings and Gwilym was someone who was very open with them, and although you’d felt so happy this morning you were still unsure of what to make of all this. It would be easier if it were just kept as a holiday fling, surely? What if you got back to the mainland and things fell apart because you two had been so wrapped up in this perfect little world you had while away? How could you both adjust whatever this was to real life? He was heading home to a completely different world now, and would have so much to sort out with explaining what happened to friends and family; it wouldn’t help at all if a new person was mentioned.

“Listen, Gwil, this has been-”

“(Y/N), please.”

“Just listen!” you sigh, “this has been a really wonderful time, and despite what happened I do really like you, but I just feel it would be better if we left it at this.”

“Why?!”

“Because you’ve got a shitstorm to go back to, a shitstorm that would be made so much worse by the mention of another woman’s name. And what if this was all it was meant to be? What if we find that in real life we’re not compatible at all? We’ve been living in a bubble here, no responsibilities, no jobs, no friends or family sticking their noses in… It’ll be completely different when we get back home, and you know it. I just want to enjoy our last full day on the island together, can we do that and then talk about this later?”

“Okay,” he relents with a sigh, “later.”

“Let’s just enjoy today, yeah?” you suggest softly as your hand cups his cheek and your thumb runs from the corner of his mouth into his stubble.

He nods in response then briefly leans into your touch before you disappear to your room to freshen up and get changed and you tap lightly on his door when you return, him answering it with car keys in hand already.

“Where are we going today then?” you ask.

“You choose,” he smiles, “here.”

He hands you his car keys and you look at him in astonishment.

“You’re trusting me with your car?” you half laugh.

“Yep,” he nods, “I know you’ve been dying to have a go.”

It was true, his car was brand new and a model you could only wish of owning with all the latest technology on the dashboard, and it was such a smooth ride you’d been itching to have a go yourself.

“Right then, let’s go!” you grin excitedly.

You spend the day showing him all the old haunts you used to go to with your parents when you were younger, although some of them had been closed for a long time, and lunch is spent on a beach front overlooking the sea and inhaling the salty air while you eat, laugh, and reminisce about your childhoods. Studying his face as he looks out towards the water, you notice how calm and at ease he seems right now, and you rest your chin on your hand as you watch him intently.

“What?” he asks with a smile as he turns back to face you.

“You look different.”

“So do you.”

“Must be the sea air,” you sigh happily.

You drag him over to the arcades after lunch and spend the rest of the afternoon on the penny machines and trying to grab a stuffed animal with the claw ones, and just as you’re about to admit defeat with the stuffed bears, Gwilym comes up behind you and lowers a chocolate coloured teddy down in front of your face with a love heart clutched between its paws.

“Ta daaa!” he laughs as you take the animal from him, “especially for you.”

“It’s amazing,” you chuckle as you hold it against your chest and turn around to face him, “how did you get him?”

“Persistence,” he winks, “and a shit load of 20 pence pieces!”

“Thank you,” you grin giddily before giving him a kiss.

Gwilym drives you both back to the guest house in time for dinner but after dessert you tell him to stay put for another five minutes and grab his key from the table before running next door to change into your pyjamas then lock up your room before getting into his bed with a bottle of bucks fizz that Danielle had given you for your birthday, and you wait patiently for him to arrive.

“Are you decent?” he asks through the door eventually.

“Not at all, but come in,” you reply with a giggle.

“What’s this?!” he asks when he opens the door to find you sat up in his bed in your shorts and vest with the bottle balanced on the duvet next to you.

“A little party for two… or three actually,” you say as you lift the covers to reveal the bear sitting on Gwil’s pillow.

He chuckles as he shuts and locks the door then he moves to his side of the bed and throws the bear across the room before taking its place under the duvet with you.

“Hey!” you frown, “my bear!”

“Three’s a crowd,” he grins, grabbing the bottle and opening it up.


	8. Sat 24th June

It’s 5am when you wake to the feeling of Gwilym’s lips caressing your skin gently as he works his way up from your shoulder to your neck, and although you’re initially annoyed at being woken so early, it soon fades to joy as his hand works its way beneath your underwear and between your folds.

“Gwilym,” you half whisper and half moan as your hips work with the movements of his wrist, trying to guide him down further.

“Do you want to?” he asks as his fingers run along your slit waiting for their cue, “I’ll stop if you don’t.”

“I want you,” you nod, “please don’t stop.”

Your eyes are now fully open as you place your hands either side of his face and meet his wanting gaze while his tentative touch moves slowly towards your entrance and he slips two fingers inside, immediately curling them up before dragging them down against your inner wall. Gwilym watches you as your mouth opens for quiet whimpers to pass your lips then your hands fall from his face and come to a stop on his shoulders where your finger tips squeeze his skin gently, and he’s unable to resist leaning down to kiss your open mouth. You attempt to kiss him back but just as your mouth closes enough it has to open again thanks to the waves of pleasure his fingers are creating down below, and your noses end up dancing around each other as they nudge from side to side whilst heavy breaths are exchanged between your lips. The sensation of your walls beginning to tighten is enough for you gently take a hold of his arm to stop his hand from moving any more, and you look up at his expectant face as you finally bring your lips together.

“Do you have a condom?” you whisper.

“Yeah… I think…” he slides his hand out from your underwear, quickly licks his fingers clean then rolls over on the bed and reaches out to the bedside table for his wallet.

You move behind him and lean up on your side as one of your hands gently tickles the nape of his neck while the other skims over his side to his torso and down into his pants where you take a firm grip of his erect member and begin to stroke him slowly while you lay soft kisses along his shoulder. His whimpers make you smile as you watch his hands shake a little, his fingers fumbling with the slot in which the condom waits, and as you press your body against his back your hand increases speed just as he retrieves what he needs. The wallet lands with a faint thud on the carpet then he tears the corner of the packet before dropping his head down and letting out a louder moan as your thumb circles his tip. He turns his head to the side to try and catch a glimpse of you as your lips press against his warm skin and you push yourself up so you can kiss his cheek as his eyes close at the feel of your hand wrapped tightly around him.

“I really don’t want you to let go, but fuck I need to be inside you,” he groans.

“It’s okay, I need that too,” you smile against his earlobe before sliding your hands away from his body and shuffling back over to your side of the bed so he can turn around with the condom already covering his length and his boxers now nowhere to be seen.

“I’ve never wanted to make love to someone so much before,” he breathes as he watches you lift your vest top off and wriggle your shorts and knickers down your legs until they fall out of the bed from underneath the duvet.

“Gwilym,” you snigger, rolling your eyes.

“I mean it, I really mean it (Y/N).”

You see the sheer sincerity in his eyes and smile as you reach up for his shoulders, letting your hands glide around to his back as he moves his body above yours and settles himself in between your open thighs, and he takes his opportunity to finally kiss you properly after teasing his nose against yours. It doesn’t take long for his tongue to gently slip past your lips as he balances his weight on one arm while the other travels between your bodies so he can guide himself between your walls. You lift your hips up off of the bed a little as he enters you then you both settle back down while you adjust to his ample girth and he kisses away the pain until it gives way to utter pleasure at him filling you so snugly.

“Are you okay?” he murmurs against the side of you mouth.

“Mhmm,” you nod, “more than okay.”

“You feel so good,” he exhales as he begins to move slowly, “oh god, so good.”

You’re already tight around him but you both take it at a steady pace as you exchange messy, teeth clattering kisses then long gazes in to one another’s eyes; neither one of you wanting to have to close your eyes first and miss a second of the pure ecstasy that is etched across the other’s face, and as your orgasm begins to build as your lower half starts to knot itself up ready for the impending pulsations you begin to whimper against his neck. Every breath you take against his skin warms the area sweetly and he lets out a stuttered breath when your teeth sink lightly into the sensitive flesh, which in turn makes his hips just into yours roughly.

“On top,” he pants, “I need you on top.”

The two of you fumble around underneath the covers, pulling them mostly over to one side as you switch positions and you’re now riding him with your hands flat on his abdomen for support, your finger tips curling and your nails digging into his skin as your thighs lift and lower you, your core now taking all of him comfortably. His hands reach out to your breasts where they cup and squeeze them before his fingers begin to tease your nipples into hardened buds, and as one hand stays where it is the other soon makes its way down your torso to rest against the triangle of coarse hair while his thumb hooks underneath to rub the bundle of nerves that’s now swollen with anticipation.

“Gwil- Gw- oh my… hmm…”

His hips move erratically off of the bed to meet your increasingly desperate rhythm as you both near the climax and he juts his himself up with one powerful motion as he’s the first to feel the pleasure of letting go wash over his sweat sheened body, and you know you’re sure to bruise after the hold he had on your breast while he came with a deep moan of your name. Soon after you’re tightening up as much as you can around his length and the pulses of gratification that echo in your core cause you to see stars as you clench your eyes shut and feel his hands now on your arms to help steady you. He guides you down onto his chest and you slowly slide off of his member to make yourself comfortable as your chests appear to move in sync while you regain a steady pace of breathing. Your eyes travel lazily over to the clock on the bedside table and you see it’s now almost 6am so you make your way to your side of the bed to have a shower and clean up.

“Where are you going?” Gwilym exhales.

“Shower,” you reply quietly, “it’s almost 6 already.”

Gwil reaches out for your back as he slides nearer to you, “(Y/N), look at me.”

He could sense you were becoming distant when he began kissing your hair and you’d moved off of him almost immediately, but you turn to him with your tangled hair covering half of your face.

“Yeah?”

“That was incredible… _you’re_ incredible… will you at least cuddle with me for a bit? We’ve got plenty of time.”

His hand moves from your upper back down to your hip and his touch is so gentle and loving that you soon give in to his request and lay down beside him again, curling into his body with your hand stroking through the dense hair on his chest. He covers you both with the duvet as you think about how odd today will be when you pack your belongings into the car after breakfast, ready for the trip back home later on, and how you definitely did not expect your last day to begin in such a way.

“Not usually a cuddler then?” Gwil asks softly as he strokes your hair.

“Not through choice,” you reply, “never been with anyone who wanted to.”

“That’s really sad… A cuddle after making love is the best kind of cuddle.”

“It’s certainly a nice feeling.”

He sighs before asking his next question, “how are you feeling about today?”

“Confused.”

“Confused about what?”

“I went to bed feeling very sure about what was going to happen today; we’d be able to go our separate ways and that would be it, but now… after what just happened… I’m no longer sure about the outcome.”

“So why did you agree to it?”

“Because when you said you wanted to make love to me I didn’t realise that there would be such a difference between what you meant and what I thought it was going to be, which was just sex.”

“Ah, well hopefully you know how deeply I feel for you now, and there was no way that it would have been that easy to go our separate ways anyway though because I would have put up a very good argument for staying together.”

“Oh yeah? And what would that be? I mean, you’ve already partly convinced me, but I’d like to hear this ‘very good argument’.”

“Well,” he shuffles around on the bed and clears his throat while his hand continues to smooth your hair down, and he places his other hand over yours on his chest, “I absolutely adore you and despite what happened to you in the past, and the stupid mistake I made, you’ve still let me through those thick walls you’d formed around you, and I can promise you now, with both our hands on my heart, that I will _never_ do anything to break that trust. I will show you how you should be loved every single day of your life because there is no one on this earth that deserves it more than you.”

“Oh,” you squeak.

“Is that a good ‘oh’ or a bad ‘oh’?”

“A good ‘oh’… we should really get going now though, or we’ll be late for breakfast,” you smile as you push yourself up and meet his sea blue orbs.

You lean down to lay a soft kiss against his mouth then head to the bathroom with him following close behind, and the two of you end up together in the shower where loving touches are exchanged and an apologetic kiss upon the already reddening skin of your breast is given from his tender lips. Once dressed you hastily get back to your room and pack up your belongings so that everything is ready to take down to the car after breakfast, and everything seems a little surreal when you take a seat at the table opposite Gwilym for one last time in this place.

“It’s all gone far too quickly for my liking,” Danielle pouts as you stand swaying from side to side while you hug her goodbye afterwards.

“It always does,” you sigh, “but, I will provisionally book for next year so there’s always that to look forward to.”

“Good! Have a look at the free dates,” she grins when she finally lets go of you and opens up the diary for next year.

“We’ll be back before next year,” Gwil says quietly as he leans against the table beside the diary.

“ _We_?”

“Yeah, I was thinking maybe a week in October at the house.”

“You’re optimistic,” you smirk.

“I need something to look forward to after I go back to the shitstorm that’s waiting for me at home.”

You look up at him just as he lets out a tut and rolls his eyes at the thought of it all, but when he then focusses on the small patch of carpet around his shoes and his face drops when it sinks in, you know that he’s very much dreading it in all honesty. Your hand reaches out for his thigh and gives it a supportive squeeze before you book in a week with Danielle and say goodbye to Anna and Michael then head in to the annex one last time to collect your luggage.

“Do you need any help?” Gwilym offers, struggling with his own case.

“I’m fine,” you smile.

You close the boot of your car almost at exactly the same as he does and then you’re both standing there looking at one another, scared to move and desperate for time to stand still. You’d booked a fairly early ferry so you could get back home before it got too late; the drive was long and you wanted to get back before dark so that you could at least have time to open your parent’s present and have some overdue birthday cake with them. It was now a countdown and neither of you wanted to acknowledge the fact that there were only four hours left together until goodness knows when.

“Ice cream!” Gwilym suddenly announces.

“Isn’t it a bit early?”

“It’s never too early for ice cream. I’ll meet you down the front… Last one there pays,” he winks.

The two of you rush to the doors of your cars and jump in but Gwil gets a head start thanks to his reverse parking, and you have to turn around before getting out to the main road. You follow him for most of the way but he suddenly veers off down a side road when you get near the sea front and after parking up you find a bench to sit on to wait for him to return.

“Looks like I’m buying then!” he chuckles as he comes up behind you making you jump.

“Where did you go?”

“Just had to pick something up,” he smiles, “right, flake or no flake?”

“How is that even a question?! Flake!”

He clutches his chest as he looks up to the sky, “I knew you were the one!”

You laugh as he walks towards the ice cream van, your smile unwavering as your eyes travel up his body from his Vans trainers to the turned up shorts that sat just above his knee, then the casual t-shirt that hugged his biceps nicely and skimmed over his gorgeous stomach that you’d studied this morning while looking down at it as you rode him, and finally his glasses that he slipped on when he needed to read anything. He runs his fingers through his hair to move it back from his face due to the sea breeze and your whole body shivers as you think of the imprint you now have on your chest from those same digits. By the time he returns with the ice creams you have your bottom lip clutched firmly between your teeth, but he forces you to release it when he leans in for a kiss before even handing you your sweet treat.

“What was that for?” you question before taking your first lick of ice cream.

“You just look really beautiful sitting there all windswept and needy for a lick of my cone.”

“You’re awful,” you laugh, giving him a playful slap on the thigh.

The sun casts a bright beam of light onto the sea making it more of a teal colour than the rest of the deeper royal hues surrounding it and as you both finish off the bottom of the cones you take Gwil’s hand to lead him down onto the beach without saying a word. A blissful hour of strolling along the wet sand to feel the trickles of waves wash over your feet follows as you walk both hand in hand and then with your arms slung around one another while conversation ranges from silly ‘would you rather’ questions to what you were both like as children. Your free arms swing at your sides with your socks tucked into your shoes and your fingers hooked around the heel and as the shallow water laps slowly up to your ankles the thought of having to go back home is far from both your minds.

“How about some lunch?” Gwilym suggests, pointing with his trainers over to the beach front cafe.

“Perfect,” you nod, leaning into his body as you both change direction on the sand.

After a quick wipe of your feet with some tissue you get your shoes back on and enter the cafe where you order some of the fresh seafood on offer and take a seat at the window so you can watch the waves move in slowly. Gwilym turns to face you, tucking your hair behind your ear before tilting his head down to kiss your cheek, and you turn to face him so that you can meet his lips.

“How long?” he sighs, nudging his nose against yours lightly as he struggles to not kiss you again while he waits for an answer.

“An hour if you take off the half hour I need to queue up at the terminal.”

“Right,” he nods solemnly.

Your food is soon served and you both eat in a sombre silence now that the clock was definitely working against you but after hastily eating your lunch you head back to the beach one last time, sticking to the dry edge so that you could keep your shoes on. Gwil falls behind your steps as he digs around in his pocket for his phone, then he holds it up with the camera on and calls out to you.

“Hey!”

“Yeah?” you ask as you spin around to see him behind his phone, then you hear a few clicks as you smile and look away shyly, “that’s unfair!”

“Okay, your turn then,” he grins, slipping his phone into his pocket and holding his arms out to the sides, “come on, you know you want this face on your phone.”

You roll your eyes at his comment but can’t deny that he was completely right and you snap photos of him as he gets closer to you, eventually ending with him taking your phone and flipping to the front camera so he can get one of the two of you sharing a kiss.

“And I will send that to myself!” he says triumphantly, tapping away at your screen.

“You’re really something else,” you scoff.

“And you love it. Now come on, looks like you need to be heading down to the ferry, I’ll drive with you.”

The sun hides behind a cloud as you make your way back to the cars as if it knows what’s going on inside both of your heads right now, and when you arrive at the ferry terminal Gwil parks up at the side as you get into your lane for boarding then he opens your passenger door and hops in next to you as you wait.

“So-”

“Gwilym, I know it’s going to be difficult for you when you get back; there’s obviously going to be a lot of things to sort out before you can even think about pursuing anything else with… someone...”

“You,” he frowns.

“So, when the time is right for you, and you’ve closed that particular chapter of your life then I think that would be a good time to reach out and maybe think about being with someone else.”

“You,” he repeats with a nod.

“Whoever! You don’t know what’s going to happen in the coming weeks. You could meet the woman of your dreams going to bloody Tesco on a weekend!” you sigh.

He shakes his head vigorously, “I’ve met the woman of my dreams, she was staying at the same guest house as me while on holiday. Don’t think you can get rid of me that easily,” he chuckles, noticing the cars filing off of the docked ferry that you were due to get on, “listen, I know what you’re trying to do but it’s not working, I’m going to check in on you as much as you’ll allow me to because I certainly don’t want you going to Tesco and meeting someone else. When that chapter of my life has been closed then we can start our chapter, our beautiful, messy, upside down chapter that will lead somewhere magical.”

“That sounds awfully optimistic,” you laugh.

“One of us has got to be! Now please, don’t let your fears get in the way of this, because this is special.”

“I’ll try,” you agree.

“Good. Here’s a little something for you, don’t open it until you’re on the ferry… please let me know when you get home safely as well. I look forward to seeing you on the mainland soon,” he smiles, leaning over the gear stick and pressing his lips firmly against yours in a longing kiss.

You nod your head when the kiss ends, “I hope everything goes as well as it can when you get home, and thank you for making this holiday one to remember.”

“This is such a difficult goodbye,” he sighs, watching the queue of cars next to yours begin to board the ferry, “oh, fuck it, I’ve really fallen for you (Y/N),” he admits in a rush as he opens the door, “really bloody fallen for you.”

He shuts the door as you start your engine and you wave to one another through the glass, then he stands there with his eyes fixed on your car until he can no longer see it and returns to his own vehicle whilst his hand runs through his hair with an annoyed growl at how quick the goodbye was and the uncertainty of when he’d see you again.

Once the ferry begins to move and everyone exits their cars you trudge your way up the stairs to find a lone seat by the window so you can pull out the small object Gwilym had handed to you in the car, and when you unwrap the tissue paper around it you find a small canvas with a night time painting of the beach and the shining stars above it with your words about the island from the beginning of the week running along the horizon ‘it’s magic’. You look out of the window with a smile then snap a picture and send it to Gwil with a short message.

\- _It’s perfect, thank you. And I’ve really bloody fallen for you too x_


End file.
